


Lesser Told Tales

by salixbabylon



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Nightmare-inspired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-05
Updated: 2006-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-19 05:36:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14867630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salixbabylon/pseuds/salixbabylon
Summary: Why has Jack always refused to have a cabin boy aboard theBlack Pearl?





	Lesser Told Tales

**Author's Note:**

> Thank yous: To [**lostiawen**](http://lostiawen.livejournal.com/), who thought this might be salvageable once upon a time, and everyone in LJ who told me to go ahead and try. And to [**bitofaspaz**](http://bitofaspaz.livejournal.com/) for the wonderful beta. *smooches to all*

Now that Will had found Jack and they had an "accord" with each other, Will was determined to prove his place. He didn't want anyone to think he was the captain's whore, or even just that he'd been brought aboard as a personal favor. No, Will wanted to earn his keep, take pride in his duties, and prove that he deserved his position. There was just one problem.

A few days out to sea, Will approached Jack. It was a still, calm day, the winds gentle enough to barely enough to keep the ship moving. The pirates were lazy with the sun and lack of activity, and Will reckoned this was as good a time as any.

"Jack?" he asked, stepping up to the helm.

" _Captain_ Jack."

" _Captain_ ," Will corrected himself. "I have a problem and wondered if this might be an acceptable time to discuss it."

Jack nodded. "Certainly, luv. What's on your mind?"

Will took a quick look around and found that Gibbs was the only one nearby. The crew knew he and Jack liked a bit of privacy, and since their captain getting regularly buggered meant a happier, less crazy Jack, they did their best to accommodate them. Will felt a bit awkward with the crew's knowledge of his place in the Captain's bed, but not enough to warrant putting off this conversation until they were alone.

"Captain," he said, standing up tall and meeting Jack's eyes, "What's my position on the _Pearl_?"

Jack blinked, then gave him a lascivious grin, his gold teeth gleaming.

Will interrupted before he had a chance to say anything lewd. "Not like that. I meant, am I the Ship's Blacksmith? Carpenter? Regular crew? Cabin boy?"

Jack opened his mouth to speak, but was once again cut off, as Gibbs answered, "Jack's never had a cabin boy aboard the _Pearl_."

"No? Why not?" Will asked, crinkling his forehead in that manner he knew Jack thought was adorable and could never refuse answering.

Jack turned to glare at his old friend. "Mister Gibbs, some tales are not meant to be repeated."

"Ah c'mon Captain," Gibbs cajoled, "It be broad daylight an' calm as glass. A bit o' a story would liven things up for the lad."

Jack gave him a significant look. "Perhaps your flask would wet me tongue for the tale, eh?"

Gibbs pulled a face, but handed it over, before wandering away. Jack took a few lengthy pulls, then stared off into the distance, absently running his fingers over the grips of the wheel. Will began to wonder if he'd ever speak when he took a deep breath and began.

"There's not many that know this tale, Will, an' them that do know only bits an' pieces. Some bits have ended up in other stories, embellishments an' decorations on otherwise dreary yarns. But I swear to you that this be the whole truth, all of it, an' that I've never told a soul the tale I'm about to tell you now."

Will gave him a skeptical look.

"No, honestly," Jack said, defensively. "This here is the real story, the full truth. It's fantastic an' strange, but no more so than that of Cortez' gold an' you saw the truth of that with your own two eyes. I've never told a soul this tale, an' when I've finished, you'll see why. It's not a tale I'd want gettin' about." He gave Will a look, mingled emotions showing in his eyes: fear and vulnerability, respect and steeled determination. And love. It was clear that he trusted Will with this, the very same way he trusted Will in bed.

Will nodded gravely. "I understand, Captain. Jack. I won't betray your confidence and I will believe you, no matter how fantastic your story sounds, if you swear to me that it's God's truth."

"'Course 'tis," Jack nodded gravely, turning his gaze back to the horizon. "Many years ago, when I was first beginnin' me life as an adventurer here in the Caribbee, I ran afoul of some shipmates in a game of chance. The matter was taken to the Captain, an' despite his belief in me innocence," Jack winked, "I was put offshore at a nearby sandy beach. Weren't the gold, you see, but that the Articles strictly forbid gamin' on board. At any rate, I was given sole rule of a lovely little island, full of trees, terns, tidepools, an' not much else. Bein' an optimistic young man, me whole life before me an' havin' yet to make a name for meself, I was determined to escape."

He took a swig from Gibb's flask. "You've heard this next bit, I b'lieve, from the estimable Master Gibbs himself. I made meself a raft of palm branches, waded out into the cove, an' stood for a very long time. Eventually I managed to rope a couple of sea turtles, an' they generously towed me out to sea."

Will grinned. "Sea turtles. Honestly?" Jack nodded. "With human hair? From your back?"

Jack grinned, flashing gold and white. "Well. No. With fibers o' palm fronds, softened in sea water. Doesn't sound as impressive, though, does it?"

"Not really," Will said. "And far too logical to have come from the mind of 'that mad Captain Jack Sparrow.'"

"Well, it's true. Unfortunately for me, an' the sea turtles as well, our journey together did not go unnoticed by some o' the nocturnal predators in these waters. It was a small raft, large enough t' pleasantly trail me hands an' feet in the water on a warm afternoon. Sadly, at night that was a less enjoyable pursuit, what with the sharks circlin' an' knockin' against the flimsy surface least I forget their presence. I was about to cut the turtles loose so they wouldn't pull me into the depths with 'em when they grew tired of bein' harassed by the unwanted company an' dove. But just then a dark shape loomed out o' the night, barely a fathom away. I'd been too distracted by the sharks t' keep a good look-out an' the ship was upon me almost before I noticed. Luckily, the fates weren't ready t' consign me to such a messy fate yet, an' I managed to climb onto the hull with me knives before the raft was smashed to pieces. I daresay the sharks were a bit disgruntled to have lost such a tasty morsel as meself for their supper that night."

Will shuddered. "I'm glad there weren't any sharks about when I was shipwrecked as a lad. Or, if there were, that I never knew of it."

Jack nodded. "They have their place in the sea, but I'd just as soon avoid 'em. At any rate, I climbed aboard the ship an' set to takin' a look about. Sadly, I was not yet as skilled in the ways of sneakery as I am now, an' I was discovered in a disappointin'ly short amount of time. The crew was a bit odd, seemin'ly frightened an' wary, but not o' me. They dragged me to the captain's cabin straight away an' tossed me in, shuttin' an' lockin' the door behind me."

Jack took another long draw at the flask Gibbs had been kind enough to loan him.

"Will, I'll not lie to you. The sights I saw in that cabin made me blood go cold. I was still a lad, maybe a few years younger than you are now. Barely into me twenties, though I'd been at sea at least a decade. Always looked younger than I was, though, an' I hadn't yet grown these debonair mustaches. They put a few years on me face an' helped people reckon that they'd best take me seriously. But at that time, me aspect was that of as fresh-faced an innocent lad as one could picture... As were the faces of all the lads in that cabin, chained to the walls. There must've been at least a dozen of 'em..."

Jack's eyes grew distant as his voice dropped to a whisper. "Some had clearly been dead for a while, an' the stench of 'em rottin' was almost as abhorrent as the sight. Without willin' it, me feet took me further into the cabin, towards the bedchamber. The ones closest t' the opened door were still alive, although as naked as their unfortunate comrades, an' their eyes as vacant. Only the rise an' fall of their chests betrayed their continued existences, such as they were. Not a one of 'em said a word or even looked at me, as I crept forward until the bed was in view. An' there I saw a sight that I will never forget, no matter how old I grow, that still haunts me in me sleep."

Will was rapt, hands clenched as he waited for Jack to go on with his tale, the air about them seeming to grow cool. Jack paused dramatically and turned to the side, eyes twinkling with mischief for the briefest moment. His face had resumed its stoic mask as he moved back to face Will.

"There on the bed," Jack continued after a few fortifying breaths, "crouched a man, large but slender. He straddled a boy, whose limbs were spread t' the four posts, held with chains. I wasn't so naive t' not know what the man was doin' as he pulled an' sucked the lad's organ into his mouth. I couldn't see a face at all, in the shadows, but the lad's face was one o' torment an' agony, misery even, rather than the rapture one would anticipate. His weak moans were more o' pain an' sufferin' than pleasure, even as his body quaked, tightenin' for the final culmination. Finally, I presume he spent, an' as the last tremors left his body, he collapsed in faint."

Jack swallowed. "An' then the creature on the bed turned 'round." Jack took another drink. "T'was not shadow that had kept me from seein' his face before, at least not directly; the shadows themselves seemed t' come _from_ him, coverin' his features so that he was unclear, givin' him unnatural stealth as he glided an' moved in ways no human could. He gave a laugh that sounded like parchment burnin' as he looked at me an' said somethin' about tasty morsels droppin' out of the heavens for him. I couldn't move, not even look away, as he came closer. It was as if the marrow in me bones had frozen solid, an' the shadows crept out from him like tendrils o' fog, reachin' out towards me."

"Shadows from his hands touched me face an' for the first time since I was a boy I had the urge to weep in terror. He said 'Gettin' on a bit, but still young enough...' which made no sense. I was perhaps a few years older than the other victims, but I knew not why it would matter. Before I could gather me wits, the creature had me bound in chains recently occupied by a corpse, which was disposed of some time later with a disheartenin' splash."

"Some while after this devil had quit the chamber, I regained me courage an' started speakin', hopin' one o' the other occupants would still have wits enough t' tell me what I was facin'. Eventually two lads answered me, their voices the hollow raspin' whispers of those near death. They called him the captain of this ship a demon, a devil whose strength came from the essence he stole from their young cocks. 'Incubus' one genteel-voiced lad named it. They'd all been brought aboard t' be the Cabin Boy, eager t' join an' do the biddin' of the suave gentleman-adventurer they'd been seduced by at port. The foul creature could take on the most handsome o' aspects, they said, once his needs had been satisfied, an' the crew seemed none the wiser about his demonic nature."

"'He needs a new one every few days' the boy next to me said. 'Look, that one on the bed, see how his skin has gone grey? He's barely breathin' – no life left to 'im. That will have been his last time. He'll be hung on the wall out there 'til he dies.' My suggestions that we try t' overpower the monster, fight our way out were met with pity. 'Once he gets his mouth on you, you're his forever. We haven't the will to even struggle anymore,' the other one confessed. 'There's no life for us beyond this cabin; we are bound up in him now.'"

Jack took another drink, bringing his gaze back to Will. "Do you believe me?" he said in a challenging tone, "Do you think I'm lyin' to you?”

Will shook his head furiously. "No, Jack. I see the truth of your words in your eyes."

Stifling another twinkle, Jack nodded abruptly, altered the course a slight touch, and continued. "Obviously, I had only one hope an' that was to fight off the demon, the incubus, before it got t' me. I could see that the other lads were helpless, hopeless, an' more in the Otherworld than in this one. Luckily, since I'd not been brought aboard willin'ly like they were, I still had me effects, although the crew had divested me o' me arms. One small pick freed me from the irons around me wrists, an' I cast about for a plan. Hatin' meself for it, I took the boy from the bed, nearly a corpse by this time, an' dressed him in me clothes an' stood him in me spot. Naked, I arranged meself on the bed in his place an' waited. All I had was a knife from me mum's weddin' silver, bein' still young enough t' carry sentimental treasures with me."

Jack glanced skyward, a beatific expression on his face. "I'm not a religious man, Will, nor am I a superstitious one. But I prayed then, in that bed, darkened with its hangin's, the stench of death an' evilness all about me. When he returned, many hours later, the creature gave no caution to the supposed invalid on the bed."

There was a very long pause while Jack gathered his thoughts, shuddering at memories only he could see. "I will not put words to that horror, for there are none t' convey what it's like to kill a demon. I stabbed him. He screamed in a way that literally caused me ears to bleed. When he finally went back t' the Hell that had spawned him, all the other boys in the chamber departed this life as well."

Jack was silent for so very long after this statement that Will felt he had to prompt him, for there had obviously been an ending of some sort. He kicked his ankle.

"Ah yes," Jack said. "Apologies. Even seein' Barbossa's skeleton the first time weren't as terrifyin' as that experience, evilness an' death surroundin' me. At any rate, I gathered me wits, dressed meself, armed meself as best I could, an' exited the cabin. All around the deck stood the crew, waitin', after they'd heard his scream..." He paused for another drink.

"Pirates, Will. They knew what he was, that the creature was a devil that seemed fair one moment an' looked like a figure made o' shadows the next. That he brought young lads aboard at every stop an' threw 'em overboard, dead, within weeks. The decay o' rottin' flesh was clear enough, but as he never made a move t' the crew itself, they felt safe enough to not care that they were captained by one o' the hordes of Satan himself..."

Jack shook his head, then steadied himself. "So I took control of the ship, sailed to a village with rather less in the way of laws an' morals, an' left the crew there. None of 'em dared challenge me, not knowin' how I'd defeated the evil one, an' they spread the word that the ship was cursed."

Will looked about, eyes round as the pieces of the tale came together in his head.

"Aye. A reputation's handy for a pirate, Will. I painted her black, gave her black sails, an' found a crew willin' to risk sailin' under the command o' a man who'd murdered a demon." Jack took another drink, trying to quell the twitching of his lips at the expression of awe on Will's face.

"I had the cabin gutted after me first haul, down to the boards, burned every bit of it. Slept with the crew 'til then." He took another drink, finishing off the flask. "An' that, Will, is the honest, true, terrifyin'ly strange, but undeniable way I came into possession of the _Black Pearl_."

Will nodded, a feeling of warmth stealing over him and replacing the cold, a feeling of wonder that Jack had seen so many things and yet was still here. He sat in silence for a while, watching Jack make some adjustments to their course.

"Wait. I thought this was the story of why you didn't have a Cabin Boy?" he asked tentatively.

Jack frowned. "It was both, I s'ppose."

Will got up off his perch on the rail, and with a rare flirtatious look, put his arms around Jack. Whispering in his ear so even the most curious couldn't hear, he said, "What if I choose to be your Cabin Boy of my own accord? We can use some of those silk sashes you got in the Orient, and _you_ can be the incubus this time," with a naughty wink.

Jack's mouth hung open, dumbstruck.

Will lifted his hands to close it. "'You can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest', eh, Jack?"

Mustering up a scowl, Jack turned and grabbed Will by the arms roughly. "You swore t' believe me."

"Oh Jack," Will chuckled, closing the distance between them, "I believe all of your stories, luv, each and every time."

Jack relented and finally laughed, a welcome sound after his chilling tale. "Smart lad. Cabin Boy you are, then," he said before turning to kiss Will right there in front of anyone who might be watching. "An' to ensure that you don't stab me, you're forbidden from wearin' a stitch in me cabin, ever," he grinned.


End file.
